Just Today - She Seeks - Week of December 29

Christmas is over. The pie has been eaten. The moment has arrived for the guilt to begin. As early as the morning after, all the "I shouldn't haves" and "I will be betters" will give voice to our deepest feelings of regret over the things of yesterday.

We'll determine to do better in the New Year. Start fresh. Follow through. Do what we didn't do last year or don't do what we did. Regardless, it is often that same guilt that drives us to make rash resolutions we set ourselves up to fail.

All of us have experienced it and have lived to tell of its non-productiveness. Yet all of us fall into its trap when we live with the allusion that the remedy for our past failures is to set an even loftier goal for ourselves in the future, only to throw ourselves a pity party when we don't meet our own expectations.

This year, let's really do things different. Let's set small, yet reachable goals for ourselves, truly living day by day.

Focus only on the things we can accomplish, today.

Treat the people we cross paths with kind, today.

Decide to connect with God, today.

Choose to eat only what we our bodies truly need for physical fuel, today.

Determine to be better, today.

We can't lose all the weight we want to, in one day. Neither can we solve all of our longtime financial problems or suddenly make the whole world become more peaceful. But what we can do is manage the things right in front of us, responsibly -- taking a step towards contentment by accomplishing our small, reachable goals.

It's things done daily. It's things done with integrity. It's things done today, and it's things done well. It's making our only New Year's resolution the one where we ditch our guilt over yesterday and press forward to the better tomorrow's ahead. It's a resolution worthy to make.

Resources...

Read about the things Jesus says to "do not worry" about in Matthew 6. Then cross those things off the list as you focus in on today.

Lisa Whittle has admittedly clocked many hours in the guilt department, and her resolutions number more than the shoes in her closet. Her only resolution for today is to make her prayer life better. Subscribe to her blog at www.lisawhittle.com.